Bill Clinton Fast Facts

CNN Library

Updated 12:30 PM ET, Sun August 2, 2015

The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – President Bill Clinton speaks about the Monica Lewinsky scandal at the White House on January 26, 1998, as First Lady Hillary Clinton looks on. Fifteen years ago, on January 7, 1999, the U.S. Senate began its trial of Clinton, who was accused of lying under oath, obstructing justice and abusing his presidential power in an effort to conceal a sexual relationship with Lewinsky. He was acquitted a month later. The following images are from around that time period 15 years ago.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – Lewinsky, a White House intern, embraces President Clinton at a Democratic fundraiser in Washington on October 23, 1996.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – In this image taken from a video, Lewinsky watches Clinton as he greets staff at the White House during a re-election celebration in November 1996.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – This photograph of Lewinsky meeting Clinton at a White House function was released by the House Judiciary Committee and submitted as evidence against Clinton by Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – Lewinsky and Clinton pose for a photo at the White House. This photo was also used as evidence.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – On January 22, 1998, Starr stands before the media outside the Justice Department, answering questions about his investigation into Clinton and Lewinsky.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – Robert Bennett, Clinton's personal attorney, makes his way through a crowd of photographers as he arrives at federal court in Washington on March 5, 1998. Starr's grand jury was questioning witnesses in the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – Lewinsky and her attorney, William Ginsburg, head to their car in Philadelphia on April 6, 1998.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – Linda Tripp, the Pentagon employee whose secret tape recordings of Lewinsky triggered the criminal investigation, speaks to reporters in Washington following her grand jury appearance on July 29, 1998.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – Clinton sits in the White House Map Room before delivering his speech to the nation about the Lewinsky controversy.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – Clinton responds to a question during his grand jury deposition on August 17, 1998. The video was shown during a presentation by House members to the Senate on February 6, 1999, during the trial phase of impeachment proceedings.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – On August 18, 1998, Chelsea Clinton walks with her parents on the White House grounds. The President is walking the family dog, Buddy.

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – Starr testifies during Clinton's House impeachment hearings.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – Clinton delivers a statement on the impeachment inquiry in the White House Rose Garden on December 11, 1998. Clinton apologized for his conduct and said he would accept a congressional censure or rebuke.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – Democrats take a symbolic stand by walking off the House floor December 19, 1998, during the vote to impeach Clinton over the Lewinsky scandal. They later returned.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – In this television image December 19, 1998, Speaker Pro Tempore Ray LaHood, R-Illinois, prepares to announce the House vote of 228-206 to approve the first article of impeachment.

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The impeachment of Bill Clinton18 photos

The impeachment of Bill Clinton – On December 19, 1998, President Clinton makes a statement at the White House as the first lady looks on. Clinton thanked Democratic members of the House who voted against impeachment, and he vowed to complete his term.

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Here's a look at the life of Bill Clinton, 42nd president of the United States.

November 30, 1993 - Signs into law the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. The bill requires background checks and a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases.

December 8, 1993 - Signs into law the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which takes effect on January 1, 1994.

May 6, 1994 - Paula Corbin Jones, a former Arkansas state employee, files a federal civil lawsuit in Little Rock, Arkansas, accusing Clinton of making "persistent and continuous" unwanted sexual advances toward her during a business conference in May 1991, when Clinton was the governor of Arkansas.

November 5, 1996 - Clinton is elected to a second term, the first Democratic president re-elected since FDR.

February 25, 1997 - The White House releases documents from 1995 that show Clinton had approved of plans to reward Democratic Party donors with overnight stays in the Lincoln Bedroom.

January 17, 1998 - During a videotaped deposition by Paula Jones' lawyers, Clinton denies a sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

January 21, 1998 - The story breaks in the press. The allegations come to light after Kenneth W. Starr, the Whitewater independent counsel, learns of audiotapes on which Lewinsky describes the alleged affair and cover-up to a confidante, Linda Tripp.

January 26, 1998 - Clinton declares, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

February 2, 1998 - President Clinton signs the first balanced budget since 1969.

August 6, 1998 - Lewinsky testifies before the grand jury about her relationship with President Clinton.

August 17, 1998 - Clinton testifies before the grand jury and admits having "inappropriate intimate contact" with Lewinsky, but says it did not constitute sexual relations because they had not had intercourse.

September 11, 1998 - The House releases the Starr Report to the public.

October 8, 1998 - The House votes, 258-176, to begin an impeachment investigation of Clinton.

November 13, 1998 - The President agrees to pay Paula Corbin Jones $850,000 to settle her sexual harassment lawsuit.

December 11-12, 1998 - The House Judiciary Committee approves four articles of impeachment against President Clinton, accusing him of lying under oath, obstructing justice and abusing his presidential power in an effort to conceal a sexual relationship with Lewinsky.

December 16, 1998 - The U.S. and Britain launch four days of air strikes against Iraq after months of trying and failing to get Saddam Hussein to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors.

December 19, 1998 - The full House approves two of the four articles (perjury and obstruction of justice). Clinton becomes the second president in U.S. history to be impeached.

February 12, 1999 - Senate trial ends with an acquittal. The vote on the perjury charge is 55 to 45 and the obstruction of justice charge is split 50-50. A two-thirds majority, or 67 votes, was required for conviction.

September 20, 2000 - After six years, Independent counsel Robert Ray closes the Whitewater investigation, clearing the Clintons of any wrongdoing.

January 15, 2001 - A cancerous lesion is removed from Clinton's back. Doctors determine the cancer did not spread and do not consider it serious.

January 19, 2001 - The day before leaving office, Clinton agrees to give up his Arkansas law license for five years, and to pay a $25,000 fine to the state bar association, ending efforts by the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct to disbar him.

January 20, 2001 - Hours before leaving office, Clinton pardons 141 people, including Whitewater figure Susan McDougal and publishing heiress Patty Hearst. The most controversial pardon is that of financier Marc Rich, who had been a fugitive in Switzerland. The president also pardons his brother, Roger Clinton, who had been convicted on a cocaine charge in the 1980s.

July 30, 2001 - Formally opens his post-presidential office in the predominantly black Harlem district of New York City.

February 2005 - Clinton and former President George H.W. Bush travel to Asia to visit the areas hit by the tsunami.

September 5, 2005 - Former President Bush and Clinton announce the formation of the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina.

July 12, 2006 - Clinton and Bill Gates travel to Lesotho to visit an HIV/AIDS clinic supported by the William J. Clinton Foundation. It is the fifth time Clinton has been to Africa to promote AIDS awareness since 2001.

September 4, 2007 - Clinton's book, "Giving," is published. In it, he gives examples of how the generosity of everyday people can positively impact the world.

August 27, 2008 - Clinton gives a speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention supporting Barack Obama for president.